Show White Magic of Pure Science e By Frederic Frederi J. J H Haskin skin WASHINGTON Wh When WASHINGTON When n the first discoveries concerning electricity after Benjamin Franklins Franklin's adventure ture In flying his kite R at the lightning light light- I ning were made made- the jerky impulses of electrical l current were given no practical application j The most tangible tangible tan tan- gible visible experiment was WS in making the legs of a frog froS move convulsively at a slight touch of the I current It Is a R somewhat curious I thing that Franklin seemingly attempted attempted at at- tempted no practical application He may have had an Ajax complex and feared to meddle with this curious curious curious curi curi- ous force The fascinating fact Is that researches researches researches' re reo re- re searches searches' in pure science seem at first to have no pragmatic useful useful- ness But the scientist can ri never ver verbe be sure what hidden lie He potentially po po- in his discovery The Fr Frenchman who made the fro frogs frog's s 's legs quiver with his first electrical current had no vision of how the electrical Industry nd ry would develop into one of oc the greatest In In the world He could riot not ot foreshadow Edison nor Tesla Tesa nor Steinmetz Only ne Begins the Job The Carnegie Institution of ot Wash ington has spent many mantho thousands of oC dollars in research in pure science to determine the sex of the microscopic microscopic microscopic micro micro- particles which are known to the layman n as bread mold Bread mold actually consists of living creatures The sex distinctions the life me history o of th these e tin tiny creatures may have no usefulness to man but yet the they ma may The point ic is that pure science has no concern with the pragmatic side Its task is to tomake tomake tomake make discoveries and then let more workaday delvers develop the applications ap op The National Academy of Sciences Sd is one of the greatest of American Amer Amer- ican lean scientific organizations It operates under the wIn wing of the science advisory board which has official federal standing and maintains maintains main main- thins a building at Washington ton which is a palace of wonders Much of ot its work has hilS to do with researches researches re reo re- re searches in pure science and the white magic it evokes would put to the blush the most demonstrations of at Merlin the wizard wizard wiz wiz- ard or any of the medieval practitioners practitioners of ot black magic the alchemists of old time Constantly the researches researches re searches of ot this body are arc going forward forward forward for for- ward and constantly more wondrous things are being d discovered covered Some discoveries soon have practical application application application ap ap- ap- ap others must wait walt around clothed in their own mystery for forlong forlong forlong long periods before an application is found Cause of Anaesthesia Anaesthesia which Sir Humphry Davy discovered in 1800 and which Faraday developed is la something too mysterious to discuss and yet et now is an ever everyday phenomenon of tremendous usefulness s. s The induced induced induced in in- trancelike sleep is 15 what the French call le Ie petit mort the mort-the the little death Y Yet t science has made this little death possibly only o of some local spot of the body and possibly of the whole being controllable making a resurrection possible at atthe atthe atthe the goft of the anaesthetic Now one of the recent researches hes of t. t th the National Academy of at Sien Sd Si Sciences en s has been Deen in this field Some things past understanding have been discovered about anaesthesia for for in all pure science the more one discovers the less one seems to know Conducting experiments with a afresh afresh afresh fresh water plant called the academy through S. S E. E Hill of the Rockefeller Institute for M Medical Research has hos discovered that hat anaesthesia anaesthesia anaesthesia an an- is produced by the withdrawal with of at a substance 0 or group croup of substances which for lack of at more definite knowledge arc are termed merely R R. The experiment was made by subjecting the nitella plant to electrical impulses in distilled water Sentience the sense of feel feel- ing which anaesthesia quells for a period is s termed in scientific language Ian lan guage irritability which seems a n good term It was found that loss of or irritability results from rom the withdrawal with of at R. R If H the layman will think back to his last toothache he will realize that irritability is a descriptive term and will also realize that the application of oL the local anaesthetic or perhaps of oC gas removed very effectually for fOl the time being g All nil sense sene of at irritability Now it seems that the nitella anaesthetized by bythe by the electrical current revealed that its Il- cells lost their irritability for two days These cells now tran tran- were kept in distilled water water wa wa- vater va- va ter where they had been treated The water then was analyzed and It was revealed that there was R R- R the demon of oC Irritability which had be been n banished The next step in the experiment which had the effect of proving the theor theory was the concentration of at the theR theR theR R found in the water and applying it to the pl plant nt cell Behold irritability was restored It is surmised sur sur- by these adventurers into the field of at pure science that if jf such an effect can b be induced in plant cells a similar effect would be noted in animal cells Thus the explanation of f the mysterious Indu Induced Induced In In- du d trance of anaesthesia is due to the withdrawal of R by artificial stimulus The next step obviously is to find out just what R is and this is a problem em now to be at at- tacked An irresistible thought is that if the secret of or resurrection from the trance the little death be found perhaps the secret of resurrection resurrection resurrection from death itself will follow fol fol- low The National Academy of Sciences it appears has a better chance of finding the Fountain of at Youth than ever did Ponce de LeonI Heat eat Loss Through Perspiration Without clothes shivering usually usually ally occurs after several hours' hours exposure ex cx- to t an environmental temperature temperature temper temper- below 75 degrees Fahrenheit according to Eugene F F. DuBois and James D Hardy of the Russell Sage Institute of Patho Pathology o y and visible sweating at temperatures above 82 degrees This may not appear r to tobe tobe tobe be news but there is a very definite deli deli- nite value involved in knowledge of ot heat hent losses from the human body the subject of this research The Russell Sage Institute has been carrying on resea researches on this subject subject subject sub sub- for 20 years The findings are arc of value in connection with observation observation observation of fevers in relation to systems systems terns of house ventilation materials for clothing and so on For example exam exam- pIe it has been definitely cst established that 24 per cent of the heat of the human body is lost through vaporization atlon of oC moisture which presumably presumably presumably ably means the function of ration From such a mundane Inquiry we turn to sublime investigation and find that P. P Van de Kamp and A. A N. N of th the University of Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia have studied the motions of ot stars in regions of the firmament In an associated ted re realm relm lm it is to be noted that Walter er aJer R R. Miles l and K T. T Behanan of Yale Yat university havo have made madea a a careful research research research re re- search into the oxygen consumption involved in Yogi breathing Several Several Sev Sev- eral cults of ot Yogi breathing patterns patterns pat pat- terns were observed d with special reference to effects on the metabolism metabolism Artificial breathing patterns to induce mental concentration the conclusion is probably have a more pronounced psychological th than n physiological ical effect These various students researchers research research- ers and savants of ot the schools are associated with wilh the National acad acad- emy em All are modern alchemists whose findings may mean far more to the world in the long run than some things which appear on the surface to be more immediate impressive impressive im im- im and important |